When you want to wear your Halloween-themed leggings to your kid’s Pumpkin Day but the outfit doesn’t have pockets so you have no place to put your phone and you know you’ll want it to take pictures. (Yes, Eagle Eyes Readers, the sweater has pockets but I know I’ll be taking it off!)
I always thought these “belts” were cool but never thought I’d be able to wear one and pull it off…
After all these years I finally have the perfect outfit to wear with my Grandma Smith’s purple pearls. She loved her costume jewelry…
I picked the rest.
Lunch with friends beforehand at Succotash in National Harbor. It was DELICIOUS and we highly recommend it. (We had fried green tomatoes; pimento cheese fundido; bacon mac and cheese; collards, kimchi, and country ham; Belle’s punch and a gochujang infused bloody mary.)
My super fancy home manicure (yeah, it’s just glitter polish):
Us, before:
Before & After
And this is what it takes to get ready for the ball. :p
A few fun pics trying to get THE PERFECT shot:
And the best shot:
And my favorite fun shot:
So as we were starting to get dressed, Tom had a uniform snafu—he realized he forgot a major piece. The exchange was closest (about 45 minutes round trip)…but they were out. Home was next closest (about an hour round trip) but that wasn’t appealing, either. A few furious texts found a buddy who lived somewhat close that had extras and could bring them to him…but that took almost an hour as well! So, while he was downstairs waiting for the delivery, I was finishing getting ready and hanging out with our friends in their room and then we came back to our room to wait for Tom. Our friend Tom was having a FIT because Tom’s uniform wasn’t even prepped to start dressing…so he got everything ready for him.
Waiting longingly for his buddy:
The group shot without Tom:
It was getting to be time to be seated for dinner (we’d already missed the entire cocktail hour) so Karen and I headed down while Tom waited for Tom. They made it with a few minutes to spare.
After the ceremony was over, we booked it out to the photo line while it was still short:
Random shots of us:
And the official photo which was emailed to us before we even left the event:
We actually had other friends at the table (plus her parents!), but we somehow managed to go the entire night without taking a big group photo OR a photo of us with them! So, here’s one I snagged off Facebook (that I actually took on her phone):
And lastly, to give you an idea of the scope of the event, here’s the seating chart: 288 tables of 10.
Overall, it was a fun evening, but unfortunately, it was once again a big ol’ waste of money—we should NOT have spent the night again. Last year we had decided it had been a mistake because we didn’t NEED to spend the night—we didn’t drink enough to need to stay and we were tired and wanting to head out by 10 so we could have easily just came home. But this year we thought we’d all stay (all three couples) and have this epic night…but we were all petering out come 10:00 so we all just went our separate ways LOL. We could have actually been home by 11 and saved the $350 we spent on the room and sitter! Lesson REALLY learned. 🙂
Lularoe leggings, two sweaters from Marshall’s, necklace from Chico’s (birthday present from Marcia!), and boots from Amazon. 🙂
Well, technically she just had on the shirt and leggings. I added the boots and cardigan which I knew she also had. 🙂
I think I am most excited about being able to fit into boots. They’re wide-calf boots, but they’re boots. 🙂
It felt like fall this morning (65°) so I got out my boots (to go with a new outfit, as well)!!
I DID IT!! I finally reached my goal of normal BMI (the top end of which is 169)! I know you all know by now but I have to say it again: I couldn’t have done it without Naturally Slim!!
Oops! That’s hard to see on that background…so off to the garage!
And then I didn’t want to wear that out and about so changed into a new shirt (with my new jeans from the other day).
And the collage I posted online…and Naturally Slim shared!
Now I have to see if my body thinks it should lose another 15 or so so I can claim that I lost half my body weight! 🙂
I have my favorite shirt and jeans and feel like I wear them all the time:
So I figured I’d search eBay for the brands and sizes and see what I found. And I found these for about $30 total. Love them both!
A shirt from the shopping trip I had with my friend a few months ago (that I haven’t worn yet) and one of my new XS (!!) Lularoe maxi skirts!
It’s still feels a little weird to be “dressing up” just to go to the movies, but this is what I wanted—it’s not really dressing up, it’s just looking put together. 🙂
Getting ready to see Finding Dory and splurge on delicious hot buttered movie popcorn!
I absolutely love it when a quick spur of the moment picture turns out perfectly. 🙂
And one of my new dresses since I rarely have occasion to dress up.
I was taking a picture of my outfit (a new shirt I absolutely love) while she was getting ready for bed and she had to join me. 🙂
But it’s my style top and it was on clearance. 🙂
I bought it without trying it on so it could have been a huge failure…but it fit pretty well (though I could honestly use some Spanx!) and Tom really liked it so that’s a bonus!
If you’re wondering what LuLaRoe is…
They sell women’s clothing (dresses, skirts, leggings, tees, etc.) from at-home parties and pop up boutiques on Facebook—and of course there’s a big market on eBay. The leggings are usually described as “buttery soft” and the best you will every buy/wear. They aren’t cheap but also aren’t outrageously expensive, so I decided to dip my toe in with a pair of plain black leggings. (They are also known for their crazy patterns. And to be honest, most of them are downright fugly to me.) They have sizes from XXS to 3XL so that’s a draw as well.
A friend actually introduced me to LuLaRoe about a week ago (gee, was it only a week ago?!) and for not ever having heard anything about them, I quickly realized it’s an obsession with some people! I actually had a conversation at a baseball game the following night because a friend showed up in one of the dresses and three of us proceeded to talk about wishlists. 🙂
I signed up for a few Facebook groups and the popups seemed overwhelming with people snapping things up super quick so I went to eBay…where I quickly realized there’s a much bigger selection…but the prices are crazy. (If you buy direct, the prices are set. Otherwise, all bets are off.) They only make like 1000 of each pattern (I think, I’m still new at this) so if you see something you like, you need to snap it up. And once it gets rare, the price goes up exponentially. (For example, leggings are $25. I’ve seen some on eBay for $100.) I liked the black ones so wanted to find a cool pattern. But I wanted to make sure I get the ones I really like. So I searched eBay and watched a bunch and once they go past $30-$35, I’m out. (I figure I’ll pay a few extra bucks to get exactly what I want.) But then I actually got the hang of the Facebook popups one night when I was surfing through three of them at the same time (and chatting with a friend who was at the same three). We were sharing pics and getting opinions…and it was like a shopping outing with your bestie without leaving your house and spending hours doing it!
So once you start looking, you kind of get hooked. As I told my friend, they hit on a brilliant strategy—you can’t just go to a store and look at everything. Or a website even. So you get sucked into looking everywhere at everything every time it’s posted in case you find exactly what you want. My friend told me she belongs to 17 LuLaRoe groups. Yeah, she’s addicted. I wouldn’t say I’m addicted, but I ordered two more pair of leggings and this dress from eBay…and I actually won ANY PIECE I WANTED from a popup drawing!! HOLY COW! Of course they didn’t have anything I wanted in leggings, tees, or dresses (!) so I chose a $70 cardigan because I’d NEVER pay $70 for a cardigan!
So, that’s LuLaRoe. 🙂
I asked Owen to take my picture this morning but it was a bit rushed since he was on his way out the door to the bus stop…so I didn’t get to set it up right…and I didn’t realize until later that I had a sneaky photobomber. 🙂
Dammit. I liked my whole recent Le Tote box. But I don’t need all of it. Hell, what am I saying?? I don’t need ANY of it LOL.
I more than like but not quite love the dress. Great length, good color, nice feel, not my favorite neckline (as a general rule I choose V-necks) but I can branch out, and it’s easily changeable with accessories. It’s a bit expensive at $64 but unfortunately isn’t available anywhere else online so no cheaper option.
I like the pants. They are a bit more current (hip?) than anything I own—they have pleather-type panels on the front (better seen in the stock photo)! My fashion-guru friend says these are a definite yes, plus says they’re a steal at $29. I’m still debating but leaning towards keeping them.
The tunic isn’t exactly my style but it’s super comfy and my friend really likes this one, too. I’m not convinced, though, since it is a bit big, a tad short (for just leggings for me), and a bit more than I’d want to spend ($30). I’m wearing it today to see how it works in real-life but I’m leaning towards returning it and then keeping my eye open for a more suitable tunic (since apparently these are totally IN now).
Necklace 1 is very similar to the silver one I already bought for $19 and I don’t like the shiny as much—even at $22. So I like it but it’s going back.
I LOVE necklace 2. And it’s a known famous brand so Google told me it was cheaper direct from the company so it’s already on its way! (And it looks much better in person than in this photo!)
If they discounted for buying a whole box, I might have just taken it all…but they only give you credit for another month and this is my last month…so that was a no. But it was good to end my experience with Le Tote on a high note (though it does make it harder to cancel—I just have to remember my other boxes that weren’t as successful)!
One year ago today at my highest weight ever, I crossed my fingers and started my attempt to lose weight doing low-carb (the only thing I really knew). Little did I know at the time I’d find my way to Naturally Slim and would end up successfully losing 132 lbs. (thus far—with a few more still to go)! If you’d told me a year ago I’d have lost that much I’d have said you were insane.
I can’t begin to thank everyone who has supported me along the way, but top shout outs go to Tivo friend Brad Nelson (who started the thread on Naturally Slim), Tivo friend Bryan McCullough (who turned out to be THE Naturally Slim guru), and my amazing husband (who supported me every hour of every day—and even joined in).
I owe my life to this program (and these people!) and I’m beyond thankful every. single. day. that I have a new, thinner, and healthier lease on life!! ❤️ 😀 🎉 👏🏻 🍾
New(ish) shirt (worn it before) but new yoga pants that happened to match perfectly.
So while we were out, we stopped by Marshall’s so I could look for a similar, less expensive dress than the one I was wearing.
The top photos are the original $90 dress that I love…and the bottom dress is a similar $30 version of the same brand. Interestingly, the original was an XL and the less expensive version was a M—both fit, but I think a L would have been a *cough* happy medium. 🙂
I polled my Facebook friends to see what they thought, and it was pretty evenly split between the two.
I really wanted to keep the original dress but $90 was just ridiculous. And I really wanted to love the new dress but it just wasn’t right, either (even at the cheaper price). So I decided to be an adult and return both, pledging to keep my eyes open for the perfect dress. 🙂
I love this dress from my current Le Tote tote, but…
I love that I’m able to wear these awesome clothes but I hate that I’m now learning what REALLY NICE clothes feel like. 🙂